Malawi engineers engage business journalists
MIE president Dr. Ignacio Ngoma observed that journalists have been trying to avoid engineering stories because of the complexity that surrounds the profession which becomes difficult to translate into reader-friendly stories.
"As journalists your task is enormous because you have to tackle all issues and for you to inform and educate the populace better you need assistance from bodies like ours," said Dr. Ngoma an engineering lecturer at the University of Malawi.
Technical reporting seminar
MIE collaborated with ABJ to organise a two-day technical reporting seminar in Lilongwe between 21-22 January 2011 as a starting point to spur interest in the media to tackle such stories.
ABJ national coordinator Thomas Chafunya who is also head of news for the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation TV services observed that MIE has come at a right time to share information.
"There is need for right information with Malawi's growing economy where at the moment there is telecommunication, infrastructural and energy development which are done by engineers," he said.
Promoting delivery of Information
Dr. Ngoma said theirs is an initiative to promote proper delivery of information in order to protect and assist the public in Malawi on all matters in the engineering profession.
Principal secretary in the Ministry of Information and Civic Education James Kalilangwe said it is increasingly important to have such partnerships in the country if journalists are to become more knowledgeable.
"Malawi government has made bold strides in development activities and we know collaboration of the two institutions will improve flow of information in this regard," he said
He said the public need to have a deep understanding of these developments and how they happen.
"Well-trained and informed media can achieve the greatest good for their country; let's make areas that are not interesting in life like the engineering sphere more interesting to the public through stories that are written interestingly because the authors have the knowledge of what they are writing about," he said.
About Gregory Gondwe
Gregory Gondwe is a Malawian journalist who started writing in 1993. He is also a media consultant assisting several international journalists pursuing assignments in Malawi. He holds a Diploma and an Intermediate Certificate in Journalism among other media-related certificates. He can be contacted on moc.liamg@ewdnogyrogerg. Follow him on Twitter at @Kalipochi.
